The time Tim Donaghy dropped Joey Crawford with a punch

Among NBA referees, Tim Donaghy is easily the most notorious character of all time and Joey Crawford just might be the most notorious character, Non-Career-Ending-FBI-Point-Shaving-Scandal-Investigation-Followed-By-Prison-Time Division. So, this little anecdote buried in John Canzano's interesting "Referees Are People!" piece is ... well, it's kind of fun to read. Donaghy was being obnoxious in a meeting, tempers flared, and...

"I'll admit," Donaghy said. "I was being a (jerk). Joe and I had been good friends, but we were arguing on this issue. We didn't see eye to eye and we'd had a bad argument on the telephone about it in which one of us hung up."

Crawford apparently had enough of the disrespect. He walked up to Donaghy and slapped him across the face. The left-handed Donaghy took one step back, wound up, and dropped Joe Crawford with a left hook.

Crawford spent the rest of the meeting with a bag of ice on his eye.

So: 1. Joey Crawford's a slapper. 2. He's had a revolting career otherwise, but at least Tim Donaghy got to do what pretty much every agitated NBA player and fan has wanted to do to at one point or another.